the psn is down. maybe you’ve heard of this? it’s just been in the news several thousand times. from gamer to politician, everyone just has their knickers in a twist over this whole issue. if it isn’t bitching and complaining about the lack of online games, they’re banging on about their personal information being stolen.

we live in a day and age where NO ONE guards their privacy. clerks try asking for your postal code and phone number when you’re out shopping. ten people ahead of me in a line don’t even blink when asked for this info, but i become the bitch for refusing. you need my postal code so i can buy leather gloves? no, go fuck yourself.

almost everything requires a credit card, to ‘verify it’. hotel rooms, dinner reservations, online shopping, renting anything – do you know you can’t make a facebook app without a credit card or mobile phone number? what a load of horse shit!

privacy… being violated… and we are all pointing the finger at sony? not quite fair.

guess what? sony, like a lot of other companies, isn’t immune to hacking. or theft. best buy got hacked. that was pretty recent, but there is NO industry that is safe. this is the world we live in. this is the price we pay for things at our fingertips. tech, finance, government. a few years ago, even the super bowl stadium site got hacked.

little_nerdxo and i have been working our way through the new lego star wars. we can’t sync the trophies, but i wouldn’t trade the time we spent together for anything. captainadventure, who is more of an online player than i am, is using her time to catch up on trophies.

personally, i’d actually argue that i like the break. i’m playing the sims almost non-stop [hence the lack of blogging, which has also been nice]. i’ve been spending more time with friends on patios, going for car rides, and just generally enjoying the spring time in toronto.

i love my playstation. this is just a rough patch. the ps3 is an international free service. it’s got a great selection of games. it’s my lifeline, as evidenced a few weeks ago. i can play my old ps2 games on it. it cures cancer, for fuck’s sake. are we truly going to kick it when it’s down?

i’m not a total fan girl. could sony have done more? probably. i am not pretending that they’re innocent but i also don’t know the full side of the story. if anything, it comes down to a 50/50 scenario. big business has a responsibility, but why are we going gently into the good night? consumers, like it or not, also have a certain responsibility. it’s kind of like the adult equivalent of ‘don’t talk to strangers’. don’t fuck a guy who doesn’t wear a condom. don’t download every goddamn thing you see online.

golden rule of this digital age? don’t give out your credit card to everyone who asks. a credit card is not some kind of magical, bullet-proof vest.

so with the psn down for the last little while, i have really been throwing myself into my old games. one of the many things i love about retro gaming is how, well, reliable it is. there’s none of this ‘cloud computing’ bullshit. no one had to worry about ‘trophy syncing’ either.

anyway. that is a story for another time. today, i am going to give meaning to your life and tell you that the commodore 64 has gotten a new life. that’s right, ladies and gentlemen. the commodore 64 is back.

folks, this is shit you need to be aware of. since i bought mine secondhand, i am very aware of this stuff and wanted to pass along. here are some signs your ps3 is dying:

– not playing dvds
– freezing games [not fallout 3]
– if your ps3 beeps. during boot up this is normal, or when you’ve installed some software. if it’s doing so during a game, you may have a problem
– when your ps3’s regular green light turns yellow
– when your ps3’s green light will suddenly turn to orange and then keep blinking red light

if any of this happens, and you haven’t done it already, BACK UP YOUR GAME DATA. you will do nothing more important in your life. buy a new external hard drive, from somewhere like future shop or best buy. don’t get it from a place like factory direct, since i’ve done so and had them die on me. finally, if you have them, don’t forgot to deactivate all your shared PSN accounts. failing to do so means you can’t use them on your new PS3.

today, i announce that i am fufilling a goal i have had in life, for sometime. i feel it is noble, although it’s not achieving world peace, nor is it finding the cure for cancer.

it’s playing god of war 3, bitch.

god of war - ultimate edition

in all honesty, i love my job, so i will be at work first thing in the morning. i really love what i do. pragmatically speaking, it’s always going to be a priority to put a roof over my head versus playing a video game. first thing after work though? i shall be heading to eb games to pick up the ultimate edition. i love this man, so i felt that spending 60 clams wasn’t enough. i opted for the total dork edition. but, here’s what i get for $100:

• god of war combat arena containing an exclusive environment and seven challenges
• premium kratos skin – dominus
• god of war: unearthing the legend franchise documentary – a full-length movie documentary depicting the history of the god of war franchise
• god of war trilogy soundtrack – god of war, II, and III scores from the game (mp3 digital download).
• god of war: blood and metal EP – a heavy metal homage featuring original music inspired by god of war (mp3 digital download).

i moved recently, and am still without internet, so i offer sincere apologies (this time) for being out of touch. i’m borrowing a connection right now. anyway, sony’s bug, which took hold in the early morning hours of feb 28, is finally fixed. TODAY IS MARCH 2. turns out, it was some stupid ‘y2k’ type of a glitch. it affected millions of gamers. yes: millions. some were even unable to play offline! here’s some stupid PR fluff sony put out:

“As you may be aware, some customers have been unable to connect to the PlayStation Network today,” Patrick Seybold, a Sony spokesman, said in a post on the Sony PlayStation blog at blog.us.playstation.com on Monday. Seybold said the problem, which has left many PS3 owners unable to connect to the Internet and some unable to even play games offline, was only affecting models released before last year’s “slim” PS3.

“We hope to resolve this problem within the next 24 hours,” Seybold said. “In the meantime, if you have a model other than the new slim PS3, we advise that you do not use your PS3 system, as doing so may result in errors in some functionality, such as recording obtained trophies, and not being able to restore certain data.”

they keep blathering on, but then this gem comes out:

“We believe we have identified that this problem is being caused by a bug in the clock functionality incorporated in the system.”

wtf kind of insane moron pulls this shit? a clock functionality bug that lasts DAYS?! plus, it fucks up your WHOLE SYSTEM? oh, and only on the old ps3, how convenient. is this the sony way of forcing people to buy a new console? after all, gamers don’t like the word ‘fail’, now do they? they can’t go a few days without gaming.

jokes, sarcasm and general hostility aside, this kind of behaviour is unacceptable. it’s especially unacceptable with all the planned game releases.

i’m working my way through ‘Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard’ and am loving it. it’s cheesy. it’s hilarious. it’s sometimes challenging, but not to the point of insane. last night, mr hazard and i knocked off 3 trophies. Two were easy, ‘Peekaboo… I Shot You!’ [Kill 50 enemies with the Sniper Rifle. “Zoom, pow! Right to the moon.”] and Blind Luck [Kill 25 enemies using blind fire. “Sorry. Didn’t see you standing there.”].

'be a good boy/girl and eat your lead'

the third one was a complete surprise. let me just tell you what a bitch the Tramm Ride [Defeat the Tentacle Beast of Tramm. “One-two shot right to the tenticles.”] trophy was to get. it’s done in three stages, each as mind-bending as the next. just when you think you’re done, along comes a tentacle or marine to shoot you in the ass. it’s very unpleasant, especially the assplay part. i’m not going to tell you all about the battle, because my eyes already bled once doing it, and i have two more to go [if i go platinum]. i guess the main reason is that i’m looking out for you. you’re welcome. suffice to say though, i realy felt like i earned the trophy.

in other news, D3 is releasing another game with my friend matt hazard! ‘Blood Bath and Beyond’is going to be downloadable. january 7, 2010 it goes on the PlayStation Network, and will set you back $14.99. Go check out the ‘Blood Bath and Beyond’ game trailer if you don’t believe me. Or even if you do. I don’t care.

that being said, i much prefer my games to be physical and not this stupid ‘cloud storage’ bullshit the industry is gravitating towards.